Trapped
by BlackRaven
Summary: After Sacrifice.The day started like any other Frakked up day,and then she had to go get trapped with the one person in the world she wanted not to be with..and if that wasn't enough then the cylons had to go get involved too.LD,LK pairing Chap 5 is up!
1. just another day

**This story really came out of no where... It started as a oneshot, I had this scene in my head that I just couldn't get rid of so I wrote it down, and then this whole story started evolving around that one scene...**

**All this is just a warning to tell you that I have abseloutly no idea where this story is going or even if it's going anywhere... it's all a big mystery to me.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own them, just leasing and luckily for me it was a bargain, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to afoord it!**

**Set after "Scrifice" **

**Lee/Dee, Lee/Kara pairing

* * *

She couldn't bare to watch them.**

The sight of them made her sick to her stomach. She knew the rationality behind it, she knew she let things go this far, that it was more than partly her fault things happened the way they did… she didn't expect them to go any different…

Not after what she did.

I mean, really, how many men do you know that would be ok with you shooting them? How many men do you know who would just forgive that kind of betrayal? She nearly killed him. So what did she expect?

But she had to admit to herself that blaming it all on the shooting was just her, taking the easy way out again. Cause if she had to be honest it all started long before that night. It started when he first came to Galactica, it was there when she came back from Caprica, it was there that night when she almost frakked him and then told him she was still hung up on Andres… she pushed him away… and now he was gone.

She could handle him being gone. That wasn't her problem. She had a lot of people walk out of her life over the years one way or the other. She was used to it by now.

What she couldn't handle was watching them… the two of them… the hottest item on Galactica's menu since sliced bread… the hottest new gossip in town. The CAG and the com expert… The green eyed beauty from CIC and the hard bodied hunk from the flight deck… Lee and Dee… even their names rhymed.

It was all so perfect it made her want to vomit.

She didn't blame him, she didn't blame her. The world was on the verge of extinction, they were both beautiful, attractive people, they had a lot in common, they were both going through some bad stuff. Dee was still recovering from Billy's death, Apollo was still working on issues resulting from his own two near death experiences - they supported each other, they helped each other get through it. It was logical and natural that they would end up together.

She couldn't bare to watch them, but for months - that was all she did. Watch them from afar. She and Lee barely talked anymore, partly because she felt he didn't need her anymore now that he had Dee, partly because she just couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye after what she did to him. She tried to keep her distance, to avoid them, but as big as Galactica was it was still pretty tight quarters, and avoiding someone completely when you had to work side by side with them every day wasn't really an option.

_"At least now, people would stop assumingme and Apolloare secretly frakking each other"_ she thought to herself bitterly.

She ended up volunteering for extra shifts, as always finding her solace in the sky, just her and the machine under her. The rest of the time she spent in her bunk, pretending to sleep, or read, or whatever. The break room was off limits - that's where the two of them would be together most of the time - which meant no more triad games with the nuggets, no more wild nights drinking with the boys. If people noticed her sudden withdrawal they didn't mention it - probably chalking it up to one of her famous moods.

And then, after a few months it stopped. The two of them were no longer seen together all over the ship. They stopped taking leaves together and going to cloud 9 for some R&R. The rumor mill said that they broke up, but she still saw the looks her gave her when he thought no one was looking. She was looking.

She groaned when the buzzard on her alarm went off, shaking her out of her thoughts. She volunteered for another assignment today. They were short on Raptor pilots and since she was one of the few pilots qualified on both Vipers and Raptors she volunteered to take the extra shift.

She quickly put on her flight suit and hurried down to the hanger bay. The Chief was there as always and he greeted her with an apprehensive smile.

"A little assignment change Starbuck" he handed her the flight schedule "one of the ships in the fleet, the Callisto, is reporting some mechanical difficulties and we have to send someone to do the repairs. You'll have to play Taxi and shuttle them over"

She frowned at him, something about the way her said it made all the alarms go off in her head "Ok… what are you not telling me here chief?"

"Well…" he suddenly found his own feet very interesting, obviously uncomfortable about the entire situation "The problem is with the com system so we have to send a com specialist…"

"Hey chief! So who do you have to give me a ride to the Callisto?" she suddenly heard a familiar voice behind her and stifled a sigh _ the lords of kobol must be frakking with me!>_

She turned around and there she was… Dee… the Com specialist "That would be me!" she answered with a tight smile instead of the chief and watched with somewhat enjoyment as the look on Dee's face changed to apprehension almost immediately "Don't worry, I'll do my best to get you there in one piece"

She went through the familiar motions of pre-flight, checking her fuel and oxygen levels, getting the ok for take off from CIC… Dee was sitting in the back in complete silence the entire time, but she could feel the girl's eyes burning a hole in her back. Gods she wanted this flight to be over with so badly!

"This is Raptor 7 en route to Callisto" she reported as soon as she cleared Galactica's flight deck "have a nice day!" she added, trying not to sound sarcastic even though that was what she truly meant.

The first few minutes of the flight were uneventful as she navigated her way through the fleet's ships her eyes fixed on the ship that was their target. The silence was uncomfortable and the tension in the small cabin could be cut by a knife - but she preferred it that way. Because the other option was talking - and really, what was there to say.

Suddenly she felt a tremor in the steering stick, it wasn't much but she felt it and all of the sudden she had that feeling in her stomach, that feeling that came to her as second nature and told her that something was wrong with the plane.

She quickly got on the radio "Galactica actual, I'm having a problem here…" before she could even complete her sentence the Raptor started pivoting, she pulled on the stick hard, attempting to stabilize it but the frakking machine simply over-compensated and went into a spiraling loop. She barely managed to get the Raptor under control when she saw a blue light come to life on the dashboard.

"What the hell is going on?" Dee yelled from the back and Starbuck suddenly remembered that she had a passenger on board

"Not now!" she screamed back and got back on the radio with Galactica "Galactica actual this is Raptor 7 I'm having mechanical difficulties here. Can you here me?"

On board the Galactica Admiral Adama rushed over to the horn and picked it up "We're here Starbuck…"

Starbuck tried switching on and off several buttons on her dashboard as she spoke "Sir. My FTL drive just started booting all on it's own, I have almost no navigation abilities and it seems like this frakking machine is about to do an FTL jump!"

"Jump where?" Admiral Adama said worriedly signaling to Lt. Gaeta to start working his magic and get some kind of trace on Starbuck's raptor

"I have no frakking idea!" Starbuck nearly screamed.

Suddenly the Raptor plunged forward, going into a dangerous dive and barely avoiding crashing into the side of a passenger carrier that was in its way. A second later the familiar blue light engulfed the plane and the next thing she knew she was staring at nothing but open sky.

As soon as the jump was over the Raptor was shook by a small explosion that sent Starbuck headfirst into the consol in front of her, hitting her head so hard she saw stars for a moment. She felt blood running down into her left eye and reached her hand up in pain to cover the gash that formed on her forehead. A second later the Raptor powered down and switched to emergency power and the cabin was flooded with red light.

"What the hell just happened?" Dee said quietly, removing her seatbelt and stepping to the cockpit to take a look outside the window "Where are we?"

"I don't know… but it looks like you and I are going to be stuck here for a while…"


	2. And the good news just keeps on coming

**Hey everyone. Thanks to all the readers who sent me reviews! I love you all so very much! This chapter is a bit on the long side but I'm hoping you won't complain ;) I'm going to say right from the get go that I know nothing about mechanics or engineering and espeically not mechanics and engineering of space ships so if some of hat I'm writing about that whole aspect of the sotry is completely not-realistic or accurate - please forgive me! I hope it doesn't ruin the story too much.**

**Oh, and for those of you who were worried, don't be! Our favorite guy is going to make a more significant apperance very soon...**

**Enjoy! and please keep sending me reviews! the more reviews I get the faster I write the next chapters...

* * *

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA**

"What do you mean they're gone?" Apollo made his way to CIC in a hurry along with Lt. Gaeta

"The Raptor's FTL drive started working all on its own, they went into a spiral and then they jumped!" the Lt. explained "we haven't been able to reach them over the com ever since"

Just as they were about to enter CIC, Chief Tyrol rushed over and joined them "I just heard…"

"What the hell happened with that Raptor?" Apollo asked angrily as they went inside CIC and joined his father and Colonel Tigh

"I have no idea what happened! "The Chief replied "That Raptor was cleared for launch, I ran the pre-flight checkup myself - there was nothing wrong with it"

* * *

SOMEWHERE IN SPCAE - RAPTOR 7

"Well" Starbuck rose from her seat and made her way to the cabin "The good news is that life support system seems to be working so we're not going to suffocate due to lack of oxygen any time soon. I managed to put us into a hovering mode, I would have landed us on one of those asteroids out there, but with the controls being so frakked up I figured it might not be such a good idea to make any sudden movements. Any luck with the com system?"

Dee looked up from the piece of equipment she was working on "I'm still trying. How's your head?"

Starbuck took off the piece of cloth she was currently holding to her forehead and winced as she saw the blood that stained it "I'll live… I've had worst injuries then this…"

"I bet you had…" Dee mumbled and went back to trying to fix the com system. Starbuck looked at her with irritation, she had an urge to get in Dee's face and ask her what the hell did she mean by that comment but she thought better of it - the sooner Dee fixes the com system the sooner they can get back to Galactica and out of this small space that seemed just TOO small for the both of them.

She turned to go back to her seat in the cockpit when nausea and dizziness suddenly hit her and she had to brace herself against the wall to keep herself from falling.

"Are you ok?" Dee rushed over to her side and took her arm, trying to steady her

"Yeah, I'm ok… just a little dizzy all of the sudden, I'll be fine" Starbuck said through clenched teeth, trying hard to pull away from Dee and avoid hurling at the same time.

"Raptor 7, Raptor 7, this is Galactica actual, can you hear me?" The voice that suddenly came over the radio was like music to her ears.

Dee quickly left her side and rushed over to the radio "Galactica actual, this is Raptor 7! I'm hearing you loud and clear!"

Starbuck took a seat and breathed deeply as she watched Dee give their status report to Galactica along with the coordinates to their location that she got off the FTL drive. Suddenly she heard Apollo's voice coming over the radio "Ok Ladies, just sit tight, don't do anything stupid" she smiled for a moment, knowing that this comment was meant for her "help is on the way!"

Dee pushed on a button to kill the feed and then hesitantly made her way over to where Starbuck was sitting, planting herself in the seat next to her. For a while neither of them said anything and the silence became tense again, the uncomfortable atmosphere back at full force now that the crisis was over and all they had to do was wait.

Starbuck sighed and closed her eyes. this is going to be a long day…

* * *

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - HANGER DECK

"So Dee and Starbuck are stuck in a Raptor together, somewhere out there in space huh?" Kat smiled at Helo as they made their way to their Raptor, on their way out to go find their 2 missing shipmates "This should be interesting…"

"Yeah" Helo couldn't help but hide a small smile, the irony of the whole situation not escaping him. "Wanna take a bet on what they're talking about?" he made a small gesture with his head in the direction where Apollo stood, overseeing the launch of the rescue party.

"I'm not taking that bet!" Kat laughed at him "But I hear the nuggets are starting a pool. They say it's a 5 to 1 shot that one of them ends up being beaten to death by the other one! Of course, my money is on Starbuck any day…"

"I'm with you there" Helo smiled as they stepped into their Raptor "Although, I have to say that as far as I can tell, Dee can hold her own pretty well… for a com specialist that is…"

* * *

RAPTOR 7 - SOMEWHERE IN SPACE

"Starbuck! Starbuck! Kara!" the constant calling of her name shook her awake as she started dozing off.

"What? What?" she opened her eyes angrily and stared at Dee who's face were a little too close to hers for her comfort.

"You shouldn't fall asleep… you hit your head pretty hard, you might have a concussion, you're not supposed to fall asleep after a major blow like that" Dee stepped back and took a seat, this time choosing to sit directly across from her.

"Since when are you a doctor?" She knew Dee was right, that she shouldn't sleep after a head injury, but everything about the situation was starting to piss her off and she just couldn't help but take it out on Dee, after all, there was no one else around…

Dee just shrugged her shoulders and leaned back in her chair, apparently not wanting to get further into the argument.

"Fine! I'll stay awake…" Starbuck relented with a grumble, even though her head was starting to feel heavy and all she really wanted was to go to sleep until this whole mess was over. A few moments of silence ensued until Starbuck finally let out a big sigh "This quietness is going to be the death of me…"

Dee gave her a strange look and a small smile "You'd prefer conversation?"

Starbuck looked at her closely. For the first time it occurred to her that as much as she dreaded the idea of where a conversation between the two of them might lead to, the girl in front of her was just scared as she was. For some reason that realization gave her some comfort and she managed to stir up a small smile. "Maybe not such a good idea…"

The two of them looked at each other for a moment, and them chuckled softly until it caused Starbuck's head to throb and she had to stop and wince in pain.

"How about we agree not to mention the L word… " Dee suggested with a small smile "there's bound to be something we can talk about that doesn't involve you know who…"

"Ok, sounds fair enough" Kara stretched out and tried to make herself more comfortable in her chair, even though each movement caused her head to spin faster and the constant nausea to intensify.

"Did you love Zack… the Admiral's youngest son… Did you love him?"

Dee's blurted out the question so fast, as if she had been holding it inside for a long time, and for a moment Kara was left speechless.

"Well that's a great way to start a friendly and calm conversation…" she said sarcastically when she regained the power to speak.

"Sorry…"

"Don't be…" Kara replied after a long while and turned her head so she could stare out of the small window into the vast space around them. "Yeah, I loved him. I loved him very much…"

"Did you know that Billy asked me to marry him? Just before he died? He took out a ring and just… asked me to marry him…" Dee's voice sounded flat and distant, and for a brief moment Kara could forget how much she resented her and just feel sorry for the girl. "I told him no…I told him I couldn't marry him… and then he died…"

"Back in flight school I passed Zack, even though I knew he wasn't ready…It was so important to him, and I wanted to make him happy, so I passed him, and then he died because of it…"

She had no idea why she said it. She hadn't told anyone about it except for the old man and Lee. There was no logical reason why she would divulge one of her most deepest and darkest secrets to this woman in front of her, whom she didn't even like… but the words just came out of her mouth before she could stop them I guess I must have hit my head harder then I thought was all she could think of to explain it to herself.

She looked at Dee, expecting to see that same look she got any time she told someone that secret - the look of anger and disappointment she got from Admiral Adama and Lee when she told them, the same look she gave herself in the mirror every time she thought about it. Instead, Dee just looked at her and gave her a small nod, her eyes conveying nothing but understanding.

* * *

"Here we go…" Helo announced to the team on board the Raptor "Starting FTL jump in 3,2,1…"

There was a flash of blue light and a familiar lurch forward as the Raptor preformed the jump and appeared again in an unfamiliar surrounding. Both Helo and Kat Scanned the skies in front of them, seeing first nothing but a few asteroids and a distant planet. A few seconds later though, they located the missing Raptor floating aimlessly next to a large asteroid and made their approach.

"Come in slowly" Chief Tyrol said as he came up front to peer in the window next to Helo "I want to have a look at the damage to the haul as we come closer…"

"Raptor 7, Raptor 7, this is Galactica rescue mission can you hear me?" Helo spoke into the com as he carefully maneuvered his raptor along the side of the damaged Raptor in order to allow the Chief an overall look.

Inside Raptor 7, Kara gingerly got to her feet and made her way to the radio, happy to hear a friendly voice "We hear you Galactica rescue. Helo, is that you?"

"Who else would come all the way out here to save your sorry ass?" She had to laugh at his reply but it made her head throb again and her breath to catch in her throat.

"Are you two ok in there?" the hesitation was evident in his voice and Starbuck rolled her eyes _way to be frakking subtle Helo!> _

"We're fine, nothing damaged except this frakking piece of junk you call a raptor" she replied, sending a threatening glare at Dee when she moved to protest. She didn't feel the need to tell them about hitting her head - especially since they had nothing to do about it anyway.

Abord Helo's raptor the chief suddenly let out a curse and sent a hand to cover the radio Helo was speaking into so that his words wouldn't be heard over the com. When Helo and Kat gave him confused looks he simply said "We have a problem. You need to patch me through to Galactica. Now!"

Helo quickly told Starbuck to wait and got on the radio with CIC. A few seconds later they could hear Admiral Adama's voice clearly over the radio.

"Sir, from what I can see, something blew up half the starboard engine, there's a whole chunk of the Raptor's tail missing." Chief Tyrol reported.

"Can you get them to jump back here?" Was all the Admiral wanted to know.

"I can do that Sir, but that's not the problem" The Chief explained gravely "The Raptor is leaking gas, it looks like it's coming from the Inner Climate control system. This gas is highly combustible, one spark and the whole this including everything around in is going to blow up. Even if we get this Raptor back, there's no way we can safely land it on board the Galactica without blowing it up and half the hanger deck with it."


	3. How about some conversation

**Here is the next chapter of this story... again I have to say that I have no idea where this story is going but so far the chapters keep pouring out at amazing speed so I'm jusy going to ride this wave of creativity and let this story go where ever it wants...**

**As always - Reviews are not only welcomed they are ****necessary!**

* * *

Part 3

"So basically you're telling me that you can't land us back on Galactica without blowing up half the ship, it's going to take you several hours to do the repairs mid-space that assuming you can do it at all, and in the mean time the temperature in the piece-of-crap-bucket you call a Raptor is going to drop to freezing level and there's nothing you can frakkiing do about it…" Starbuck did a quick summery of the information she got from CIC and rubbed her face tiredly as another wave of nausea swept over her.

"Affirmative Starbuck. It's the best we can do. Just sit tight and try to keep warm…" Lt. Gaeta's voice confirmed over the com.

"Frakk!" Kara kicked the chair next to her in frustration.

"I guess we're stuck here…" Dee's voice was calm and even and that simple fact made Kara even angrier "How's your head?"

"It's fine! Why? You wanna kiss it and make it better? You wanna try and fix my pain?" she regretted the words as soon as they came out. It wasn't that she hadn't meant them, it wasn't that it didn't feel good to say these things to Dee's face, but saying these things out loud meant opening a can of worms, saying these things out loud led to conversations that Kara didn't want to get into.

Just as she thought Dee blinked back at the angry tone and harsh words, her face taking on a stone-like mask "So is this what you think of me? Is this what you think happened between me and Lee? That I was there to fix his pain?"

"Look, I thought we agreed not to talk about it…forget I said anything ok?" Kara stood up and reached into one of the overhead storage bins, pulling out a few survival kits. When she staggered and swayed Dee quickly got to her feet and reached out a hand to steady her.

"There should be a few thermal blankets in those kits" Kara said quietly as Dee pushed her into a nearby seat. "That should help us keep warm for a little while"

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - HANGER DECK

"Chief! Is everything ready?"

"Just about Captain Adama" the Chief nods at him then looks back down at his clipboard "We're loading everything we're going to need for the repairs plus a few extras so we won't have to waist time going back and forth between Galactica nad the Raptor…"

"Speaking of time…" Lee pulled the Chief aside, knowing that there was no need for the rest of the deck crew to hear this conversation "How much time do you think they have?"

"It's hard to say Sir, the temperature is going to drop rapidly… in about 5 hours it's going to be pretty freezing in there… if they use the thermal gear in the survival kits, maybe 10 hours… 12 at the most…"

Lee nodded gravely trying to hide the way his throat constricted at the sound of those words.

The Chief simply looked at him sympathetically. He knew what it felt like, to have someone cared for put in danger - he didn't need to submit himself to the gossiping of the crew to try and figure out which one of the raptor occupants Lee was more worried about. He knew from experience that it didn't matter. He placed a hand on Lee's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze "I'm going to do everything I can to get the repairs done in time… "

Lee simply nodded and let the man go back to his work.

RAPTOR 7 - SOMEWHERE IN SPACE

"STARBUCK!" Kara heard her callsign being shouted at her through the fog in her head. She grunted and ignored it, giving herself up for the blissful darkness. She was so tiered and her head throbbed at every movement she made. She knew that opening her eyes would just make the dizziness and the nausea rush in with renewed force, so she kept them closed and tried to drown out the noise that threatened to awaken her.

Suddenly she felt a hand smack her across the face and her eyes flew open in surprise.

"What the frakk do you think you're doing?" she hissed at Dee

"You're not supposed to sleep!"

"So you hit me? Are you frakking insane?" Kara asked in disbelief, still rubbing her cheek. When Dee simply shrugged and went back to her seat, wrapping herself in the thermal blanket again, Kara's anger flared and she couldn't hold herself back anymore

"I bet you've been dying to do that… hit me…"

"Stop it Starbuck!" Dee yelled back "I'm not the one who's angry here! I have nothing against you and you know it! You on the other hand… you've been ignoring me for weeks now! You think I haven't noticed? All the looks you've been sending me all the sarcastic comments…If you have something to say to me just go ahead and say it! Just spill it out and get it over with!"

The sudden outburst from the usually quiet Dee as well as the throbbing in her head caused by all the yelling made Kara lean back in her chair and let out a big sigh that calmed her down "I wasn't ignoring you Dee…"

"No…" Dee's voice still held traces of anger. She hated this situation as much as Kara did, but in truth she was a little bit grateful for it. For weeks she had been walking around with all these unresolved feelings in the pit of her stomach, she had so many things she wanted to say and as wretched as this situation might be - it was the perfect opportunity to vent off her angers "No, you haven't been avoiding me… you've been avoiding him! I was just collateral damage…"

"I thought we weren't going to talk about it…" Kara said weakly

"Well, we are talking about it…" Dee insisted "Why are you so angry with me? come to think of it - why are you so angry with him?"

"I'm not angry… not with him and not with you Dee." Kara sighed "I just thought it would be easier that way. I figured that after what I did…"

Kara's voice trailed off and she looked away from Dee and out the window. Even through all her anger Dee could see the pain in Kara's eyes and for a moment she felt sorry for bringing up all the painful memories.

There was a long moment of silence until Dee finally spoke "He isn't angry with you Kara. He doesn't resent you for shooting him…"

"Of course he is" Kara protested "How could he not be?"

Another moment of long silence passed until Dee finally spoke in a small voice that was barely audible even at the vast silence of the space around them "Because he loves you…"


	4. Rescue underway

**Ok, I'm going to appologize in advance that this chapter is really short... I'm not trying to draw this out or keep you in suspence but I just got a little busy and a little sick these past couple of days and when you have a fever there's a limit to the amount of creativity you can muster...**

**I promise the next chapter of this story will be much longer and will be posted in the next few days... so just stay with me ok? and don't worry... the BIG showdown between Dee and Kara and Lee is coming soon.. very soon...**

* * *

Part 4 

"Look Dee," Kara said angrily, trying hard to ignore the knot that formed in her stomach at hearing Dee's words "I know half the fleet thinks Me and Apollo are secretly frakking each other, but I thought at least you, of all people, would know better…"

"I know you and Lee aren't frakking each other" Dee's face twisted at the distasteful word. "If you had been, maybe this whole thing would have been resolved by now… one way or the other…"

Kara chuckled "The 'frakk each other and get it over with' approach? Funny, it sounds more like something that I would say…"

Dee frowned at her and shook her head "That's not what I meant…"

"By the Gods! How many times do I have to say this?" Kara suddenly exploded "There's nothing between me and Lee! Nothing!"

Dee was about to respond when the two of them were startled by a small knock on the hatch behind them. Chief Tyrol's face peered in through the glass and he gave them a small wave, he frowned when he noticed the blood on Kara's head but she gave him a small wave back to signal she was alright.

"Well, at least the cavalry is here" Dee sighed and wrapped herself tighter in the thermal blanket "It's starting to feel like a freezer in here"

* * *

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - CIC 

Lee stood nervously at CIC, listening to the incoming transmission from the rescue mission.

"Galactica actual, this is Chief Tyrol. I'm starting repairs on raptor 7"

"Chief, this is Galactica actual, can you see Lt. Starbuck and Petty officer Duella?" Admiral Adama asked

"Yes. Lt. Starbuck seems to be a little bruised and battered but they both seem fine Sir." The chief's response echoed throughout the room over the speakers.

Lee's jaw clenched at the news _Kara was injured? _.

He and his father exchanged a glance, each one mirroring the other one's concern.

"Galactica actual this is Chief Tyrol. Request permission to move to secure transmission"

The admiral and the XO exchanged perplexed looks at the strange request, then gave a signal to Lt. Gaeta and picked up the receivers in order to continue the conversation with the Chief more privately, Lee edged closer so he could hear them.

"Sir, I'm inspection the damage to Raptor 7 now, and I think we have a problem here…"

"Don't tell me you can't fix that ship" Colonel Tigh asked wearily

"I can fix it Sir. It's gonna take a while but I can fix it."

"Then what's the problem Chief?"

"Sir, this damage wasn't caused by an accident… someone sabotaged this Raptor sir. Someone rigged this raptor to jump and then power down. Someone wanted this ship to get stranded here…"

Lee could feel a shiver of cold fear running down his spine. He could see the emotion mirrored in his father's face as the realization hit him. Colonel Tigh, slow on the uptake as usual was about to ask something when the look of utter determination on Admiral Adama's face caused him to stop with his mouth half open in and almost comic gesture.

"Notify the president to get back on colonial one!" the Admiral's voice boomed through the large room "Prepare the fleet to jump! We are on alert level one! Battle stations! Battle stations!"


	5. The coming and going

**First of all, let me appologize... I know I said this chapter would be posted, like, a month ago... and I know it took me forever to update all of my storied and this one among them - I'm truely sorry! I didn't mean to make you all wait for this long... it's just that with the university and completeing my degree (which I have now - I'm officially a proud owner of a B.A - Yey for me! I never have to sit in a classroom again!) and the way things are going on here in Israel (the war that has been going on here in the past 3 weeks - in case you haven't been living on this planet) time kind of flew by and I didn't have a chance to write...**

**But I do promise to do my bast to update this story and all my other stories on a regular basis from now on! I know how much it sucks to have to wait for a chapter! **

**So here it is... hope you still like it... send me reviews to tell me what you think...**

**Oh and this is the point where this story really picks up so stay with me! OK?**

**Love**

**BlackRaven**

* * *

Chapter 5

President Laura Roslin did her best to keep up with the men flanking her as she was rushed through the corridors of the Galactica. The sirens and alarms were blaring, filling the air with almost unbearable noise, and everyone was running around in a frenzy, trying to get to where ever it is they were supposed to be at times like these.

She felt rather then saw Admiral Adama fall in step beside her. Suddenly, his presence created the illusion that things were slowing down, like somehow the world around them was sent into slow motion. She found it easier to keep up with the men around her all of the sudden, even though she knew that none of them have slowed down their pace.

"Bill, what's going on? Why have you ordered the fleet to jump away?" her voice was laced with worry.

"One of our Raptors has been forced to jump away. It was sabotage - the cylons are waiting for us to come to the rescue so they can attack us…I want colonial one and the rest of the fleet to jump away and get as far away from here as possible…you'll be safer that way and the Pegasus will be there to cover you if anything happens…"

"The Pegasus?" Roslin's voice rose with surprise, her mind trying to process all the new information "What about you? What about the Galactica?"

"We're going to stay here and get my men back…we have a rescue team out there as we speak"

"Can't you give the stranded Raptor our new coordinates - let him join us when they're done with the repairs?" She asked incredulously

"We can't risk that information in case they're captured by the cylons"

"We have men out there Madam President" he cut her off before she could even try to talk him out of his plans "We're not leaving them behind until there's absolutely no other choice"

For a moment she wanted to argue, to pull rank, to give him an order - anything that would make him rethink his plan, but the look in his eyes told her it would all fall on deaf ears and she knew better than to put him in a position where he would have to disobey a direct order from her.

He stopped walking beside her as she allowed herself to be rushed further by the protection detail surrounding her - when she looked back she could still see him standing there - a still figure amongst the sea of running people.

A split second after the president disappeared from view Admiral Adama was joined by Lee who came and stood silently behind him.

"Admiral, I'm requesting permission to take a viper and provide tactical cover for the repairs on the stranded raptor"

"Son…" The Admiral started protesting.

"Kara's out there Dad" Lee said quietly "she's injured and a cylon base ship could jump on top of them at any minute…" after a moments pause he added quickly "Dee's out there too - both of them…"

Admiral Adama stared at him for a moment, a soft smile forming on his lips "Permission granted. Just be careful"

* * *

RAPTOR 7 - SOMEWHERE IN SPACE

"Ok Galactica, I understand" Kara said into the com "This is raptor 7, we hope to be able to join you soon - do me a favor… make sure there's enough hot water when we get back… it's getting frakking freezing in here"

"Will do Raptor 7" Lt. Gaeta replied "Be advised Apollo is on his way to provide tactical support. Galactica out"

Kara took a deep breath and put down the receiver - for some reason, even after everything that happened, she found some comfort in knowing that Lee would be nearby.

When she opened her eyes again she saw Dee looking at her closely so she pretended to be swept by another wave of nausea to prevent Dee from reading too much into her reaction.

Suddenly something occurred to her.

"He shouldn't be coming here…" Kara mumbled under her breath, her hand reaching for the receiver again.

"What are you talking about?" Dee looked at her as if she had lost her mind

""If this is a trap, the more ships they'll spot here the more likely they'll come rushing in to kill us all"

"They're not interested in one viper" Dee shook her head "They want Galactica… and besides, if they do show up - at least we'll have some fire power to fight them with…"

"With one viper?" Kara almost yelled in disbelief "Are you insane? It's suicide!"

She turned her back on Dee and began yelling over the com "Apollo, Apollo, this is Raptor 7, come in please!"

"Raptor & this is Apollo, I'm en-rout, ETA 5 minutes"

"Lee! What the hell are you doing?" His calm voice only served to send her anger into overdrive, sending military protocol and rank right out the window "Stay away from this sector do you hear me? Go back to the Galactica! Now!"

"I'm on my way to provide cover…"

"Against a cylon base-ship? Are you completely insane? Who's frakked up idea was that?"

"Mine! And I'm coming in Kara! No arguments! Apollo out!"

Starbuck stared at the receiver in her palm in disgust then threw it against the dashboard in frustration, the sound of metal hitting metal gave her an odd comfort as she cursed loudly.

"You still don't get it do you?" Dee said quietly "He's not coming here because it's the smart thing to do, or the logical thing… he's coming for you"

"I'm not stranded here alone Dee… how do you know he's not coming here for you?" The words came out sounding more sarcastic and offensive then she intended

"Because I've watched him, and I've watched you… I sit in CIC everyday and I watch you two every time you go out there. I've seen the lengths you tow go for one another…"

"It's our job! We're pilots! We watch each other's back…" Starbuck said tiredly

"No! It's more than that!" Dee insisted, her eyes a mixture of sadness and anger "The two of you keep risking your lived for each other hoping that it would make up for all the things you can't bring yourself to say - and sooner or later, it's gonna get one of you killed!"

* * *

"How's it going with the repairs chief?" Helo asked looking out the window at Tyrol's figure clinging to the side of the stranded Raptor.

"As fast as humanly possible Helo, stop rushing me!" Came the reply and Helo smirked slightly at the annoyance in his voice.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye - he saw it. A cylon base ship jumping into view just behind them, a swarm of fighters surrounding it - ready for attack.

He managed to yell for the chief to get the frakk back into the Raptor and send a warning to Starbuck and Dee in the other Raptor before all hell broke loose around them.

They barely had time to pull the Chief inside and close the hatch before two shots flew by just off their left side. He could hear Starbuck yelling at him over the com to get the frakk out of there and make a run for it, a third shot from a cylon fighter hit them and they lost one of the engines, he tried to keep going, to out-fly them and buy some time until help arrived somehow, but the more he maneuvered the more the cylons seemed to be closing in on them.

Oddly enough though - they never fired at them again - they just stood there, surrounding them, as if waiting for something to happen.


End file.
